Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Well welcome to my VERY SHORT P-Day! haha I only have a little bit of time because we need to go catch a train. As you have guessed, I am being transfered! Crazy! My new area is called Skövde, and my new companion is Äldste Watts. Just so you know I will be re-opening the area of Skövde for missionary work. It has been closed for a while, and the Branch President there has requested missionaries because apparently they have been having investigators coming.. It will be a LOT of work getting the area set up. I must be honest with you all, I am a little nervous. I have no-idea what to expect or what to even think about! Just as I get comfortable and fall in love with Växjö they tear me away from it and ship me off to a new place. haha Can you tell that I am a little bummed? It is really hard to leave this place. I remember coming into Växjö and praying for the day when I could go somewhere else... Now, I would love nothing more than to stay here a few more transfers... However, I know that the Lord needs me in Skövde. There is a reason that I was called to re-open the area and get things going. I just hope that I can handle the stresses and get the job done right! I want to leave Skövde the same way I am leaving Växjö... dragged by my Mr. Mac neck-tie!! haha :) Anyway, as for Äldste Bracken, he is staying here in Växjö, training a greenie, and becoming the district leader!! haha Amazing right! We were both taken by suprise! We figured that he would stay and possibly train, but a DL!! Awesome! He is going to do amazing things and I am really going to miss him. He has taught me a lot and we have had some really fun times together. I hope that we can meet again in the future! Okay, here is a pretty cool story... We really wanted to see a baptism this transfer, but it just wasn't happening. We just figured that it was the Lord's will and that it would possibly happen next transfer... Oh how we were wrong! Our motto, which I believe I shared with you earlier is, "Växjö - Expect the Unexpected!" haha What happened was definitely unexpected! There is a family that lives about a 10 minute train ride to the west of Växjö who moved here a while ago. They have a daughter who is 10 years old and is not a member of the church. One day, while I was gone on splits in Kristianstad, Äldste Bracken and Äldste Cluff went to teach her and the family. The mother asked Äldste Bracken, "what does one need to do to be baptised?" (As she pointed to her daughter, Stephanie). Äldste Bracken asked Stephanie if she wanted to be baptized and she replied, yes! haha Crazy! Here is the REALLY crazy part... She wanted to be baptized this upcoming Saturday so her Grandmother could be there! haha So, over the past week or so we have gone over every day and taught her everything she needs to know... Then transfer calls came, and I found out I wasn't going to be able to see it.. :( And to make it worse, the night we got the call we went over to teach and I told them that I was not going to be able to be there.. Stephanie was pretty bummed. :( It broke my heart! As we were leaving and saying our "goodbye's" Stephanie came running up and gave me a big hug. I had to fight the tears big time......... It was sooo hard to leave. She would not let go for a solid two minutes and that killed me inside. She is an amazing little girl and has sooo much faith! I can't wait to hear all about the baptism and her continued growth in the church.. :) When I asked the Lord to bless me with the ability to love the people, I had no idea how hard it would be to leave them all. Well family, I will get to the e-mails, but it will be quite short I only have a few more minutes! First we have Dad! I love you so much! You are very right about me wishing you could all see what I can see! It is amazing, and I love every bit of it! I was glad to hear that the house is finally ready to be handed over so you can focus on other things and take a well deserved break! :) Also, thank you for your kind words.. I definitely needed them this week! I love you Dad! :) Okay now to Mom! I love you so much! Haha, I was going to ask about the Moose you sent.. He is safely packed in my bags, but I am not sure how long he will continue to travel with me.. Maybe I will mail him home in a box with some other stuff I need to get back home! :) Haha Thank you for sending off my Birthday Box!! :) haha I am really excited to get it! My new area of Skövde is in the Göteborg Zone so that means my Zone Conference will be on the 12th of October!! haha Perfect! :) I love how things work out! Okay, YEAH!! General Conference is this weekend! How exciting is that! I am pumped beyond belief! General Conference is feeling like Christmas to me! I can't wait to hear those familiar voices! The times for us are 6 on Saturday, and 2 and 6 on Sunday! haha Crazy! :) So yes, I am excited! I am also excited that you get to go spend some time in Utah!! Jealous! Have fun there and take a nice break from all of your hard work! Thank you for telling me about Annie! I will be sure and start praying for her today! I hope all goes well. Also, thank you for taking care of me! I am good right now, but if I ever need anything I will let you know! :) I love you Mom! Okay, now to Matt!!! I love you so much! You were stuck in the SLC Airport?? No, I did not hear! Please, do tell!!! haha It sounds like you are working hard catching up on your school work! Keep it up! It is worth it! Also, how was your trip to Provo?!?! I didn't hear about that! :) Homecoming sounds like it is pretty fun! I remember those days very well! haha goooood times! :) OH wow Matt!! I loved what you said about "You can let the small things get you down".. How amazing is that Matt!! Thank you so much for that... :) Okay, well I love you Matt!!!! Well family, I really need to get going! We have to catch the train and get me outta here... :( lol :) I love you all very much! I don't have time for the Spiritual Thought, but I want you all to take this quote to heart... It is originally from one of the old church commercials... It is, "When everything says you can't... BELIEVE in the part of you that says you can!" This has helped me in amazing ways! I love you all and pray for you daily! I will be able to write again this Monday... from Skövde!!!! :) Woo!! :)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Good morning/afternoon/evening!! Welcome back to the wonderful land of Sweden! However, I do not want to start this e-mail talking about Sweden.. I would like to talk about Denmark! Okay, as you can probably guess, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Denmark this past week! I know right?! Crazy! This is how it happened. Early in the week, I think on Monday night, we received a phone call from Kristianstad. Äldste Clarke was calling to invite Äldste Bracken to come to Denmark to attend the temple. You see, we are allowed to go to the temple every six months while we are on our missions, and Äldste Bracken's six months were up! He of course accepted the invitation, and that meant that Äldste Clarke's companion, my MTC buddy, Äldste Cluff, would go on splits. We thought that would be pretty cool, but as you can guess, we were wanting to go to the temple too! The only Elders that are allowed to attend the temple in Denmark are the Elders serving in the Malmö Zone, and since transfers are rapidly approaching we were worried that we would never again have the chance to attend the temple in Denmark! So, Äldste Bracken and Äldste Clarke thought that it would only be fair to allow us to come as well... A quick call to President Anderson, and permission was granted! He felt that it was okay, even though our six months was not quite up. Anyway! We went to zone conference, which was amazing, and after, spent the night in Malmö in the Zone Leader's apartment. That next morning we jumped on a bus, and then on a train towards Denmark! There were six elders and two sisters going, so it was a pretty good group to travel with! Not too big, not too small. I traveled over the Öresundsbron, which is that huge bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark, and it was crazy! It is the bridge that goes under the water! :) Once we arrived in Denmark the atmosphere changed! Everyone was speaking Danish and the people even looked different! haha It was fun to hear the Danish language all of the time! Some of the language is really similar, but other parts, especially pronunciation, are very different! Anyway, we decided to go straight to the temple and then find some place around there to eat breakfast. I don't know if you have ever seen pictures of the Copenhagen, Denmark Temple, but it blends in very nicely with it's surroundings. What I am trying to say is that it snuck-up on us! We were just walking down the street, and BAM!! There it was! It was beautiful! We took lots of pictures and then went to breakfast at a really cool Danish cafe. The food was yum! haha :) After breakfast we went to the temple for our session. I thought the temple was beautiful on the outside, but that is nothing compared to the inside! I was taken way, way back!! It is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! Really though... The entire time I was just thinking to myself, "I wish my family could see THIS!!!" Haha, I say that a lot actually! The session went great and I felt the Spirit sooooo strongly! I didn't want to leave, and it was apparent that no one else wanted to leave either! We were there for a very long time. Anyway, we eventually left the temple and by this time it was time for lunch! We went to one of the main areas of Copenhagen and found a KFC!!! Can you believe it! A KFC! lol We were all like, "we need to eat there!" It was pretty good, and we ate a lot! After, we went to an amazing church which is home to what I have been told is the original statue of Christ... You know, the one like in the visitor's center in SLC. It was beautiful, and don't worry, I took lots of pictures! They also had statues of the Twelve Apostles which I took pictures of too. After this we headed back to the train station to catch a train to Helsingor, Denmark to see Hamlet's Castle! :) (not before stopping at a Hard Rock Cafe to buy a shirt real quick!) :) We were not able to spend a whole lot of time there in the castle because we had to catch a ferry boat back across the channel to Helsingborg, Sweden, but it was awesome to see with my own eyes! All in all the trip was way worth it! I had lots of fun, and the temple was the bestest, best, best part! Okay, now on to my wonderful box senders! Thank you soooo much for the two boxes I received at Zone Conference! They were a pain to carry back home, but they were soooo worth it! I know have delicious cereal and pop-tarts, chips, crackers, a CD, deodorant, and a couple of very strange things. First, from Mom's box, was a Moose that when turned on rolls around on the floor and laughs like crazy!! lol We laughed very hard.. well at least I did! It was quite random! The next random thing was in Josh and Hillary's box. They included a "Nana Saver". If anyone doesn't know what that is, don't worry.. You probably shouldn't know. They can be found at your local Wal-Mart hanging on the very edge of the produce section. They are used to store Ba"nana"s. When you cut the banana in half the clip works to preserve the half the you didn't eat. This is pretty random, even for me! It is however, a little bit of an inside joke though. Every time I would go with Josh and Hillary to Wal-Mart to buy groceries I would always put it in the cart, and it would either make it to the checkout, or be taken out immediately. I guess they felt it time to let me have it! haha I have no idea what I am going to do with it! These two random objects are going to be interesting to deal with when transfers come. But anyway, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for the goodies and piano music and everything else! I loved it, and It will definitely help me celebrate my six months! :) Okay, I REALLY need to get to the e-mails or I am going to run out of time! First today is my brother Matt! I love you Matt! Funny stuff about Mrs. Spencer.. don't get too carried away though. Teachers notice a lot more than you think they do. Have fun and continue laughing! I completely agree that laughing can be one of the most fun things to do! DO YOU REMEMBER who you are talking to!? We had sooo many good times together! Like, watching funny movies together while muffling our laughs with pillows as to not wake mom and dad up! haha, it always failed! And another one I remember is the time we were at a campground bathroom and there was a guy in the stall having problems. (which you thought was me) As you were about to get out of the showers you yelled, "whoa man!!! What did you eat!!!!" I started laughing immediately and then you came out to see me just standing there pointing to the man in the stall!! haha That was soooo funny! Good times! :) So yeah, laughing is good! So, you are going to fly down for a BYU game huh?? I will pretend like I didn't hear that!! jkjk That is so cool Matt!! Do you remember when you and I went to the games together!? SOOO much fun! You will have a great time with everyone down there. I know it! Take some good pictures because I wanna see! :) How is Joe doing by the way? Sounds like you two had a fun weekend! Well, I love you soo much Matt!! Keep up the good work and have fun! Don't you ever for one second forget... my PRAYERS are with you. Everyday! :) Okay! On to my wonderful father!! I love you Dad! Enjoy John Schmidt as much as you possibly can! Whenever he decides to come. Thank you for your reminder about priorities! lol I know that my time is needed here, and I willfully give it... I will for sure have those fun times back in the states.. but that is not for a while! :) I love the fact that you took the time to look up Tropic, Utah on Google! I can visually see you reading the e-mail and then jumping onto google! haha I love you Dad! I will for sure tell Äldste Clarke that you looked at his home town because of my e-mail! :) Thank you so much Dad... for telling me about the anxiety and tension the family is going through because of the move and all. My prayers have been constant everyday, but an increase is on it's way today. I know that the Lord will help you all through this. He has promised me that, and I have faith in that promise! :) Everything will be O K!! I tell myself that all of the time, and it always does.. For a quick example... On our way back from Lund (after the Denmark trip) the train we took flew right by Växjö, and it was headed to Stockholm Central. It was pretty late already, and we just needed the train to stop so we could find a way home back to Växjö. It seemed like the train would never stop and that we would have to call President and explain why we were calling from Stockholm! I said a quick prayer and felt that feeling when you know that everything is going to be O K. The train DID finally slow down and stop in a town called Nässjö. We ran to the train departures board and saw that there was only one more train that night heading back south. We ran to the platform and as soon as we got there the train pulled up and we got on. This was nothing short of a miracle! The train should have come and departed 20 minutes earlier but was delayed for some reason. Had that train been on time or even a minute earlier than it was, we would have been in a very, very bad situation! It could have been terrible. But, the Lord helped us, and was watching out for our mistakes! We had faith, and everything turned out O K!!! :) It was quite the faith builder! I love you Dad!! Be strong and faithful! The Lord will help, I know... :) Okay now it is Mom's turn! I love you Mom!!! First off, thank you very much for the amazing box! I loved it! Even the Moose! haha :) The CD is amazing too! I love singing along with it! I just hope I can eat the food before transfers! I don't want to leave it! haha OH! A bit of interesting news.. Because of transfers, I am not sure about that October 14th date for our next zone conference. If I get transferred it will definitely not be the 14th, unless I am transferred within the zone. I believe most of the zone conferences are after the 14th, but all will be well! haha Don't fret at all! Speaking of transfers... All of the missionaries do "transfer predictions" and if the zone leaders are right, I will be transferred. It is also the pattern of Elders here in Växjö. Four months and then you get transferred out! However, anything could happen! We will definitely see! :) OH this is IMPORTANT!!!! P-Day will be on Wednesday next week!!!!! :) haha so don't freak out if my e-mail is late! It will be! haha Sorry, I just remembered that. Okay, yes Mom.. it is crazy that my six month mark is this Friday!! Time is just flying by, and I can't seem to get it to slow down! Syster Wood, one of the Sisters in our zone is heading home in a few days, and at Zone Conference she bore her testimony and she said she remembered when she bore her first testimony and how far away it seemed. Then she got choked-up and started crying explaining that that day felt like yesterday... It was crazy to think how fast time goes!.. Anyway, we should have a good time on Friday... Whatever we do! I will for sure burn a tie! :) haha Traditions are strange! Oh, I will for sure relay your love to Sandra.. She will love hearing what you have to say! haha :) Thank you for the picture of Hillary and Jess!! haha that was a funny picture! It is so strange to see them all big and pregnant! Jess should be having Colin any day from what I hear!!! Yay! How exciting for everyone! Thank you Mom, for your kind words. I am glad that the Spiritual thought last week helped you out, because it has helped me out every day! :) Okay, I love you Mom!! Alright everyone!! I have received a lot of e-mails asking about the weather here. It is COLD.. We have been wearing our suit coats and jackets everyday! haha It is cloudy most days with TONS of rain and sometimes hail! We still get the occasional sunny day, but they are becoming fewer and fewer. The leaves are changing and the seasons are turning! I am EXCITED!! haha So there was the quick weather update! Okay... now on to the Spiritual Moment! This e-mail is so long! Wow!! haha Okay the Spiritual Thought is from Zone Conference. We were talking about the Holy Ghost and how it applies to missionary work. We discussed the role of us as missionaries and how we could have the Holy Ghost with us in our work. One of the things I thought of was an understanding and a desire. We had all of the normal, "read your scriptures, come to church, pray" kind of answers, but we had other, deeper answers. I believe that in order to have the Holy Ghost as a tool and a constant companion we must first realize what the Holy Ghost can do! We must come to an UNDERSTANDING of the Power of the Holy Ghost. This, as with most things I write, does NOT apply only to missionary work! It applies to every aspect of life! The Holy Ghost can change paths, it can enlighten lost spirits, bring happiness to those that are suffering... Do we UNDERSTAND this power? Because if we truly do understand the power, then we WILL have a strong DESIRE to have the Holy Ghost with us. I have come to a better understanding of the Holy Ghost since I have been out on my mission. This understanding is growing day by day, and growing alongside of that is the desire to have the Holy Ghost. I know that the Holy Ghost can change lives. I have seen it in others and most importantly... my own. Let us work to truly understand the Holy Ghost... listen to the promptings and desire it's constant companionship. I love this Gospel... I love how it has blessed me... I know with all that I am, that Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer... lives! He loves me and desires that I be happy. And I know that through the Holy Ghost's companionship... I CAN BE! I love you all very, VERY much! Keep your heads held high, and your Spirits higher! Until next week.....

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Welcome to another p-day! I hope that your week has been going just smoothly! That reminds me of smoothies.. mmmm lol Sorry! Anyway, my week has been spectacular! Lots of fun people that I've taught, lots of fun, and crazy people I have contacted, and tons of Spirit! :) I would like to start off with the subject line! The land of many languages! Thats Sweden if you haven't guessed already... Serving in Sweden has allowed me the opportunity to meet lots of people from around the globe! These people come from different countries, speak different languages, and have different ways of doing things. I would like to just quickly name a few of the countries where people I have met come from. Ready? Okay... Cambodia, Turkey, Canada, United States, Mexico, China, Japan, Russia, Germany, Peru, New Zealand, Somalia, South Africa, Kenya, India... and, MANY MANY MORE!! haha It has been a lot of fun to talk to these people and learn about them! As I said, each one of these people has a different way of doing things and a different language... Allow me to share really quickly the story of an experience we had with this last Saturday. A few days before this particular Saturday we had contacted a woman from South America and she spoke Spanish! We communicated relatively well in Swedish and set up a time to meet again. We invited Sandra, the lady I had the opportunity to baptize, to come to the teach because we knew that she spoke fluent Spanish. We met at the church at the designated time, and the lady was there EARLY!! haha Amazing! The lady's name is Carolina.. just so you know! haha So, we began the teach, and everything was going well! The Spirit was strong and getting stronger throughout the whole teach. Sandra helped a ton! She made sure that Carolina understood perfectly! Let me just paint the picture a little for you quick. Two native English speakers speaking Swedish and then having a native Spanish speaker translate that from Swedish to Spanish for Carolina! haha It was quite the sight! :) It came to the end of the lesson and we asked Sandra to bear her testimony of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. Sandra went off in Spanish.. Her eyes quickly became moist with tears and the Spirit just encircled us all. I could not understand what she was saying, but I understood what she said. The Holy Ghost witnessed to me of what Sandra was saying. Precious tears filled my eyes as she bore her testimony and I watched the lady I baptized be guided by the Holy Ghost. It was something that I will never, EVER forget. Carolina was touched, she could see the sincerity in Sandra's words. After the lesson we had the opportunity to thank Sandra for her help and to ask her how she felt the teach went. She thought the teach went perfect, and we couldn't have agreed more! I told her about how I couldn't understand the Spanish in her testimony, but that I knew what she had said... I had felt it in my heart. She then told us that, that was the first time she had ever bore her testimony for anyone other than her sister. I was just caught up in the Spirit. It was magical.. pure, joy. This Gospel is true no matter what language you may speak! The Holy Ghost is real, and I know that with my entire self! I am thankful for what I was able to experience that day, and the opportunity I have to experience many more times just like that! Okay then.... I think I better get to the e-mails for this week! Dad!! I love you! Haha, I am so happy that you like the music on my blog! It may need a change sometime though.. I don't want the songs to get too repetitive! About the bed bugs, don't worry they won't come back, I hope. lol They are gone for now, and you keep them gone by continually checking for signs and bites. None so far! Yay! Sadly, no we were not able to meet the extremely positive potential investigator. His phone is always shut off, and he was not at the appointment... but, we will continue to try and get a hold of him! Oh man..... OH MAN!! Michael McLean!! That was awesome to hear about! I bet you all were just in amazement! How did the dinner thing with "mike" go?? How on earth did you get that opportunity? Anyway, JOHN SCHMIDT?!?! UGH!! NO WAY! That would be the concert of a lifetime! He is the amazing composer of songs such as, "Waterfall" and "All of Me". I love his music! :) If he comes just don't tell me! It will be better that I don't know that! haha jk :) Thank you for the little bit to think about in your e-mail. You are so right.. why DO we have to complicate things?!?! :) I love you very much Dad!! You are always in my heart! Alright now it is Matt's turn! I love you Matt! By the way, nice pictures! I could barely recognize you! You look like you have been working out or something.. haha and Molly looks like she is just loving life! Whats this I hear about her staying in the backyard??? I am not sure how I feel about this! Please feel free to explain that one to me!! :) What happened to BYU?? They lost to Air Force? Who loses to Air Force? hahaha I am kidding.I understand the need for a good building year. Good thing that by the time I get back they will be back to full strength! Yeah! :) Haha, you and Maddy sound pretty serious! Yes, I do believe I have been to her mom's house. haha Tom and Mat were there. So, you asked what I am doing today.. Well writing you for one thing! haha My p-day was technically yesterday but because of the fun day, we didn't have time to write e-mails, thus, why it is late! haha So that day (yesterday) was really fun! WE went to Helsigborg and played a little American Football!! Yeah! It was so much fun! Good exercise too! Speaking of which, you asked me how my work-out is coming along. It is coming along quite well! I am indeed getting "bigger"?? haha I am also slimming down! My pants are quite loose and I love it! My goal is to get down to a good weight and then build some muscle! Me and you are going to have to try to recognize each other when I get home! :) Mrs. Spencer for honors Chem huh? Wow, I had her too and I remember the class very well! You really just need to be nice to her and make all the effort you can to study, study, study and get the work done and turned in! haha Thats how you survive! Tell her "hi" for me! :) You don't like shaving huh? Yeah, I can understand that... But don't worry bro, you will get used to it! I do it everyday! Luckily, my shaver works in the shower so my face doesn't get that irritated! Woo! Anyway, I look forward to your return letter and love hearing from you Matt! :) I love you with all of my heart and miss you! Keep up the good work! :) Now, on to Mom!! I love you Mom!! :) First, to answer your date questions! Silly me, I forgot my calender! haha Okay, I do remember that the calender only went as far as the end of October and that the next zone conference in on October 14th!!! Wooo! Perfectly placed a few days before my birthday on the 17th!! :) So, I believe that you will have no problems getting a box to me! :) lol About the shopping here in Sweden... It is all pretty expensive, but there is a lot of nice stuff! I didn't buy anything just yet.. lol I am glad that my truck has been put to good use! haha I sure hope that it is taking the work load well! Oh Mom, you must have LOVED the Michael McLean fireside!!! How lucky are you! I wish I could talk to him and get to know him on a friendly basis! ugh! I remember when we would sing that song in the car!! And all of his other songs! Singing "Hold On" around the piano is one of my most cherished memories!!! :) Anyway, I love you so much Mom!! Thank you for all that you are doing for me!! :) Okay everyone, now on to the Spiritual aspect of the e-mail! My thoughts today come from a quote I took from our last district meeting. My district leader, Äldste Clarke, from Tropic, Utah (haha... Tropic, does anyone know where that is?? lol) was talking to us about our mission calls and he said this, "We are not asked to run faster than we have strength... But we are asked to run as fast as we can." This hit me hard! I was blown back by the comment! How true is this not only in missionary work, but also in everyday life! When we have a seemingly "hard day" or what sometimes feels like a "helpless future" we can find solice in this quote!! If we but do all that we can, we WILL succeed! We WILL triumph our challenges! The Lord is here to help us, not to hinder us! Many times I have found myself on my knees praying for strength to bear my burdens and to help me through hard times. Many times I have found myself running, and running as fast as I can only to be carried over the finish line by my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know, that when we do all that we can we will have success, and in that success find the then deeply rooted joy and peace. I love this work! I hope that you all know that! I love all of you, and pray for you every day! Go about this week with a determination to accomplish what is required, always knowing, that there IS HELP! Until next week.....

Monday, September 6, 2010

Sorry about the lame subject line, but for some reason I was not able to come up with a very creative one today! Well, how are things in your neck of the world?? Everything swell? Good! Okay, I will start things off today with a bit of good news! We went shopping for new beds! Yay! No more air mattresses! Okay, well the delivery truck doesn't come until tomorrow so, one more night on them, but after that we will have comfy beds to rest our weary selves! haha :) Yes, that means that all of the bed bugs are gone! We have not received any new bites and have not seen anymore bugs! Woo! If you can't tell already, I am in a pretty good mood today! How could I not be right?! I am a missionary! Ya! So today for p-day we are going shopping. Yes, for groceries, but for other things this time! Like, fun shopping! haha It is very strange to me that I am freaking out over a shopping trip. However, it is strangely comforting at the same time.. Wow, weird! lol I will let you all know if I find something fun! Lets see... I want to add a fun story.. So, last night after a teach that went over time we were walking back to get our bikes and ride home when we contacted a man. This man was very strange! I stopped him and told him that God has called a Prophet today and that his name is Thomas S. Monson. He freaked out! haha He was like, "Really?! A prophet? Thats awesome!" SO, we of course started a teach right there on the dark street with this man. He was amazingly positive! He took the Book of Mormon right out of our hands and wanted to know how much it cost! haha The entire time we were looking for signs of intoxication, but we couldn't find any! His breath was pleasant, and his pupils were regular size.. This man was either a really golden investigator, or just plain nuts in the head! We are hoping that it is the first of the two possibilities, because we have an appointment with him on Saturday! haha It was just strange to have someone so positive! It just doesn't happen very often! lol :) Anyway, one more quick story! Somayeh... Do you remember her? Well, we have a baptismal date with her now! Woooo!!! We had a goal in our zone to receive seven baptismal dates this past week, so we looked at our list of investigators, and she was the one that we could not get out of our minds! We knew that the Lord was preparing her! So, we called last minute and asked her if we could come over... miraculously she said yes! :) We prepared and prepared, prayed and PRAYED! haha We taught her about the experiment explained in Alma 32 and challenged her to set the date! She gave us her normal, "I don't know actually" response, and that hit us pretty hard. Then I had the impression to kneel down in prayer right then and there! So, that is exactly what we did! We kneeled down and I offered a group prayer for us. Then after that we each had our own individual prayers to seek inspiration. I pleaded with my Father in Heaven to touch Somayeh's heart and to give her comfort in setting a date, a huge step for anyone! As we were finishing our prayers, she sat up and said, "okay, I am done". We said amen really fast and sat back on the couch. We both looked right at her and she said, in a soft, sincere voice, "October is best for me" Which was exactly what Äldste Bracken and I felt! :) My heart leaped for joy! It was an amazing manifestation of how prayers ARE answered and how much our Father in Heaven truly loves us! Hows that for a story?? hehe :) Well, that night we were able to call President Anderson and report! He was just as happy as we were! :) Well, I better get to the e-mails now... To start we have my wonderful father!! I love you daddy! :) Wow, it sounds like things really are pretty busy! From what I hear you are "up and doing!" (see Alma 60:24) (on second thought, the part that really applies, I have already quoted.. haha) I was really glad to hear that you have set a date to go to the temple every month! What a great sign of faith to our Father in Heaven that you are willing to follow his direction! :) Way to be! :) Thank you so much for the pictures of the house! It looks like you have a very nice place to live in right now! That view is spectacular! haha I would be lying if I didn't say that I was happy to still see my truck there! hehe, you know me! ;) Okay, I was wondering when the language question was going to come! It is indeed true that most Swedes can speak English. However, we do all of our contacting in Swedish, and as much teaching in Swedish as we can! A lot of times, because of the number of immigrants, we start the contact in Swedish and they have no idea what we said, so we start over in English. Most of the time that works! Then normally those that are interested who speak English, we teach in English. Obviously!! lol Other then that, it is all Swedish. It is great to have both because that way I am constantly learning rather than repeating a memorized script in the language. Now I must make sure I know the Gospel inside and out in Swedish as well as English! Yay! lol Thank you so much for your inspiration and kinds words! I love the e-mails!! :) Okay, now on to Matt! Well hello buddy! I love you! It is really funny about your work load. I totally know how you feel. In fact, I am pretty sure I said those exact same things that you said when I was e-mailing Josh and Kevin on their missions! Just find solice in knowing that we have all been through it, and are STILL going through it!! haha You can do it Matt! Just be focused, prioritize and have fun! Keep that smile on your face, and everything will work out! :) Yeah!! Way to go BYU!! Thats the way to do it! How are they looking Matt?? High hopes for this year?! Hey you... keep your head up! Sure you have lots to do, but you have lots of help! Have you tried getting on your knees and praying!? Those times when you might feel alone Matt, always know that all you must do is PRAY.. Please, never forget that! This move is taking a toll on you, and I can tell.. You are growing so much! The responsibilities that you have are making you a stronger person! You will be unrecognizable to me when I get home, I can already tell! You can do it Matt! I love you... Push forward! Endure! YOU did not come to this earth to be ordinary! Be great! :) I love you Matt, always know I am here for you and that I pray for you daily........ :) Okay, now on to Mom!! I love you mommy! :) Before I forget... Be sure to ask if any of the Elders that come to dinner know me, or know of any Elders in the mission that know me! I want to find where those crazy elders are! It has been forever since the MTC! Sorry, lol :) As for the letter about the move... yeah, sending it in letter form was most definitely the best idea! :) I know this must be hard, but as you said yourself, the Lord will help you! Moving, I can only imagine, would be a very difficult thing! But, reports say that people are doing it all over! haha hahah ahaha.. lol sorry, my attempt at a joke! :/ lol Well, I found it very funny that you miss the Ave C house for it's bathroom! haha Of all the things!!?? lol I understand though.. That was a nice mirror! No.... NO WAY!!! Michael McLean is coming to Great Falls?! You are so lucky! Why did all of these cool people decide to come visit AFTER I left?! Whats the deal!? Well, be sure to enjoy that one! What am I saying, I don't need to say that! You will love it! TO answer your question, yes! I did get the EFY Hymns CD!! It has been playing in the player non-stop for a few days now! haha Thank you so much for that! And yes, REAL AMERICAN UTAH MORMON GIRLS!! hahahaha They were in church again, ad it was the same translating fiasco! lol It was fun! And sadly, no.. Morris was not at church. Next week though! I can feel it! :) Thank you so much for your e-mail Mom!! I love you!! You are in my prayers every day!! Okay everyone, lets start the Spiritual part! My thoughts today come from the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon! In Alma 60 Moroni composes an epistle to Pahoran the chief judge. In this "letter" he basically chews-out Pahoran and tells him that he needs to help his armies and send troops and supplies! Moroni has been suffering for the past while and he is just fed-up with not getting any help! In verse 28 it says, (directed to Pahoran) "And behold I do not fear your power nor your authority, but it is my God whom I fear.... and it is because of your iniquity that we have suffered so much loss." (be sure to go to chapter 60 and read the whole thing to get the REAL effect) Moroni doesn't know what is happening in Zarahemla, and is actually falsely accusing Pahoran of doing wrong. Pahoran is fighting a little war himself because since Moroni has been gone, some very evil and wicked men have been taking over the city. So, we would reasonably infer that Pahoran would be a little angry at the false accusations... But he is not! He writes back and says, in verse nine of chapter 61, "And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart." Pahoran decides to NOT be angry! Wow!! He was just falsely accused, chewed-out and reprimanded by his friend Moroni, and the first thing he does is "rejoice in the greatness" of Moroni's heart! There is a very important lesson to be learned here! We must not let ourselves become angry! This is something I have been working on a lot recently. In my continual quest to me more Christlike, like all in the church are doing, I have found that one of the most difficult areas is not becoming angry! So many times I have heard stories about people leaving the church because of what one, might I add, imperfect person said to them or of them. I have even seen here in Sweden the effects of anger and how it halts and even destroys the eternal progression of some of our brothers and sisters. Leaving the church or becoming inactive because of what one person has said is just sad. Don't let yourself do this! Always remember that people have faults. I have faults, you have faults... every person on this earth besides Christ has faults! So, lets always remember to show an increase of love. If someone wrongs us, lets decide right now, not to be angry, because it is just not worth it! Sorry if this has been kinda jumbled, but I feel very strongly about this. I love you all soooo much! You help me through the toughest of times whether you know it or not. Keep praying and loving! Until next week...

About Me

My name is Garrett Kundis and I have been called as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assigned to labor in the Sweden Stockholm Mission. This is my blog where all my e-mails, letters and photos will be posted for all to enjoy. I am excited to be serving the Lord and the good people of Sweden. Through the highs and lows I know the Lord is with me and that the spirit is guiding me. Enjoy the blog and follow me through the best two years of my life! Faithful and Steady, I AM Ready!!!